WILBERFORCE, Ohio -As lawmakers debate changes to the way higher education is funded in Ohio, two universities worry about their mission to serve students outside the mainstream.
House Republicans want to pool several funding programs for universities into a single source in 2007, including the elimination of extra money for Central State and Shawnee State universities.
Central State, an 1,800-student campus near Dayton, is a historically black college just starting to emerge from years of financial turmoil. Shawnee State, in impoverished southern Ohio, enrolls many first-generation students from Appalachia.
Presidents of both schools worry that the loss of a combined $13 million in supplemental dollars would endanger the work they do with students typically underrepresented on college campuses.
Shawnee State's $2 million annual supplement accounts for about 6 percent of the school's $32 million budget. Central State's about $11 million annual supplement represents about 60 percent of its state funding and nearly one-third of the school's annual budget.
It is not extra money
said Central State University President John Garland.
The House version of the $51 billion state budget would -beginning in 2007 -put the supplements in with most other education funding. The money would be distributed to all 62 of the state's public colleges and universities using a formula to be determined later.
Lawmakers could decide to give Central State and Shawnee State the same amount they receive as a supplement, or they could give the money to other schools.
The goal is to ensure Ohio's precious education dollars get maximum benefit statewide and produce a more educated work force that would attract more companies, said state Rep. Shawn Webster, a Republican from Hamilton in Southwest Ohio.
It's all about what Ohio needs he said. I don't think we should narrow the focus.
While other states provide funding for historically black colleges, few, if any, have special supplemental funds like Ohio does, higher-education funding experts said.
Ohio has given the money to Central State since 1969 and to Shawnee State since 1986.
Under the House plan, higher education overall would receive no additional money next year, and funding would be reduced for 33 colleges and universities.
State senators had not yet determined what, if anything, they might want to change in the House's higher education budget, Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said Tuesday.
Funding for higher education has lagged in recent years as the state, struggling with low revenues, has spent most available tax dollars on health care and schools.
Central State will increase tuition and room and board by 6 percent beginning this fall, hiking it from about $11,298 a year to nearly $11,976 for in-state students.
Shawnee State might seek permission for a tuition increase above the 6 percent state cap even though enrollment might drop and keeping tuition low is a priority, said President Rita Rice Morris.
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